N.Y. man gets 32 months in jail

NEW LONDON — A New York man arrested with a Maine woman after police allegedly found their car loaded with drugs a year ago in Griswold is scheduled to get out of prison two months before she does.

Ronald B. Williams, 21, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was sentenced Tuesday in New London Superior Court to 32 months in prison. He pleaded guilty in October to possession of cocaine with intent to sell.

Erica Theriault, 27, of Augusta, Maine, was sentenced Dec. 4 to 34 months in prison on the same charge. She agreed to a similar plea deal in August.

Williams and Theriault were in a disabled car on Interstate 395 northbound near the Plainfield line when a state trooper arrived shortly before 5 a.m. Dec. 21, police said.

Police say they seized 130 Oxycodone pills, 60 grams of heroin, nearly 60 grams of cocaine, 17 grams of marijuana and 30 grams of crack prepackaged for sale. Police also seized more than $5,400 in cash, including about $3,000 in Williams’ pockets.

In his plea deal, Williams accepted a maximum sentence of three years in prison. His attorney, Public Defender Fred DeCaprio, argued that he should get less than Theriault did.

“He’s less culpable than his co-defendant in this matter,” DeCaprio said.

DeCaprio said the question of which one of the pair owned the drugs would have been a question to have been settled at a trial. “On the one hand, he had the money on him,” DeCaprio said. “On the other hand, it was not his car and he was not the driver.”

The car, a Hyundai Sonata, had a Maine license plate and belonged to a Maine woman who was then at her home, police said. She told police that Williams and Theriault did not have her permission to have the car.

Williams and Theriault told police different stories at the time. Williams admitted that marijuana police found in the glove box belonged to him, but said he wasn’t aware of any other drugs in the car, according to police.

Theriault said all the drugs police found belonged to Williams and she was afraid if he learned she told police about them, “he would blow her head off,” police said.

“I realize I put myself in a bad situation,” Williams said at his sentencing. He said when he is released from prison, “I plan on getting my real estate license and continuing my education.”

“He wants to get on with his life, and he’s learned a substantial lesson,” DeCaprio said.

He said Williams earned his GED while in prison for the past year awaiting trial.

Judge Hillary Strackbein, who sentenced Williams, noted that he is a father.

“You have children and you’re supposed to pay child support,” Strackbein said, pointing out that he had $3,000 in his pockets when he was arrested.

As a condition of Williams’ probation, Strackbein ordered him to seek “legitimate, full-time employment.” She also did not impose community service, saying, “I want him to work. He needs to support his children.”

Williams agreed to forfeit to the state all the money police seized in the arrest.